The new age of interventionism is now in full swing. Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela reinforced a trend that has been growing since the attack on the World Trade Center. Before that, you had the Iraqis’ invasion of Kuwait, America’s response, and George H.W. Bush’s intervention in Panama in 1989. Under Bill Clinton, you saw the dubious war that fractured Yugoslavia.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, the United States relentlessly tried to make the Russian Federation a supplicant nation. Russia was plunged into chaos, leading President Boris Yeltsin to appoint Vladimir Putin to power. Add the disastrous intervention into Iraq and the endless occupation of Afghanistan. Suddenly, making war–whether in Bosnia, Chechnya, or the Republic of Georgia–became commonplace.

The United States, whatever its motivation, played a significant role in all of this. Indeed, Russia played its role in fomenting disorder, all the while, European powers were forced to try to regain a bit of their faded glory. They demanded the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011 and succeeded. Unfortunately, the consequence was a flood of Arab refugees sailing over the Mediterranean Sea, since the European Union seemed feckless in trying to regain respectability by intervening in Ukraine.

Enter Trump, who has little faith in his European associates. More than most US Presidents, he has been a devotee of Realpolitik, which deemphasizes human rights. And he has publicly championed spheres of influence. But his primary problem is that he tends to take a “what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable” approach. Historically, this has been the weakness of fancy alliances.

In the 1880s, Otto von Bismarck sought to align Germany with Russia and Austria-Hungary. It fell apart because Tsar Alexander III regarded the whole enterprise as a contrivance. The “Three Emperors’ League” was an impossibility because its only justification was preserving the status quo. Trump has proposed a working arrangement between Russia and the People’s Republic of China. This seems doomed because Trump expects deference, which Russia and China will be reluctant to give.

It is not unnatural to demand more than you are willing to give, but Trump seems greedier than most. China, which “strongly condemned” the Venezuelan operation, might be tempted to test the United States on Taiwan. Putin, who treated the action as a matter of fact, might not have been so alarmed. But China, which depends on Venezuelan oil and is wary of US designs on the Panama Canal, may apply the new rules of diplomacy in the Formosa Strait. This could go from a small affair to a larger one very quickly.

This is a small powder keg, but it might set off something larger.